Down Below
by BlacKat-GrenEys
Summary: The ones in the floating cities were always taught, to never, never, leave their flying homes and go down below. It is the one rule among their people that down below live the old beings of the place. People who walk on two legs like them, people who have two arms like them, but unlike them they are not civil. They eat their own. - Day 14 of Share the Love Month


**This is for day 14 of the Share the Love Month on Tumblr! I'm really excited to participate in this for several reasons: one is that I got to challenge my writing skills by doing a pairing I never thought I would do, two I wasn't even sure if I would be able to do this cause it came at a very hectic time in my life and it is only calming down right now. So a HUGE thank you to MyLadyDay and Aerle for doing this, and putting up with my asks about maybe not getting it on time.**

**One thing I have to say about this before you go on. I didn't have time t finish it... and I still don't. It will be finished though, I promise!**

**Another thing to say to my Angel's Fall readers. I'm officially in New Zealand and starting to settle down. Hopefully I will have my schedule figured out in the next couple weeks and I will finish, yes finish, the third chapter and hope to have it up before Halloween. Yes Halloween is a long way away, but my job here is taking care of a 7 and 5 year old... and the 5 year old doesn't listen... that's all I have to say about that.**

**Another HUGE thank you to sunshinethroughtheclouds for being the BEST beta ever! (there still might be some mistakes, please don't hesitate to point them out)**

**NOW ENJOY this little piece of THE STORY!**

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The ones in the floating cities were always taught, from the moment they can understand speech up till the day they pass into the other realm, to never, _never_, leave their flying homes and go down below. It is the one rule among their people that down below, on the dirt and soil of the world they circle around, live the old beings of the place. People who walk on two legs like them, people who have two arms like them, they have a head and hair, eyes and a nose, but unlike them they are not civil. They eat their own.

It is said, throughout their histories, that something happened. An epidemic swept through them, killing them, only for them to revive and search for their living brethren. Yet only to consume them, to feed a hunger that never ceases even after there were no more living on the planet.

The city dwellers arrived centuries after the sickness left, leaving only the walking corpses to inhabit the place. The dwellers at first took pity on the gravity stuck beings and wanted to try and help them. It didn't turn out the way they planned. The ones that descended on their floating crafts never returned, or if they did there wasn't much left of them or their mind, except for the gifts that had been bestowed upon them. So in the end, after years of trying, they decided that the sick beings should be left alone. To never be seen or messed with. To suffer on their own in a world that they had created. The dwellers left them on the ground for the sky, for unpolluted air, for places where the screams can't reach them.

It is here in the skies that the gift users thrived. When they arrived back from the ground they made the most of their new abilities, healing the sick, teaching the young, and providing miracles that surpassed any in their peoples mythos. They controlled the four main elements of the planet below. They could teach none their gifts, yet through their blood it survived.

Four main families for the four abilities arose; Water the House of Healing, Earth the House of History, Air the House of Progress, and Fire the House of Knowledge.

It is within the House of Healing that the most advanced user was born four centuries after the houses were constructed. Her name was Kaya and she changed the way her people, in their floating cities, viewed the ones down below.

As a child she was sick most of the time, coughing untill she couldn't breathe and unable to stand and walk for more than an hour. Yet even though she couldn't move much she dedicated herself to learning her craft. She learned how to manipulate the water like no other in her House ever could and no other ever will. She could heal the blind and deaf, bring people back from the brink of death, and even heal the medically insane. No other could do or can do what she did, yet she would never heal herself. It wasn't that she couldn't do it, but she chose not to. Claiming that her health wasn't as important as all those around her.

As she aged and grew into herself her health grew stronger, and with her strength she learned how to bring back those who had died, whose bodies were still warm and brain still flickering.

She made the House of Air turn green in envy so that on the eve of her nineteenth birthday they conspired against her. They formed a plan that on the night of her birthday party they would remove her from their city, and throw her down to the mindless creatures below to deal with. Kaya was none the wiser, nor were any others at the party banquet.

After the speech, after the food was all finished and people stood around or danced, the House of Progress put their plan into action. The eldest son of the head of the family asked Kaya out to the balcony, leading her to a corner where no others mingled. They talked, he flirted, and she never saw the shoves coming. The one that jostled her towards the edge or the one that sent her over, but she did see the ground approaching fast. The House of Progress male yelled as if he was afraid, called out to her, called her family, but by then she was too far down. They mourned her for days after.

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Kaya could see the ground of the world below approaching faster than she had anticipated. Her mind struggled to comprehend what was happening, but it seemed her body and ability understood well enough. She unconsciously manipulated the water in the air around her to slow her descent, enough so that when she finally landed all she received were scrapes, bruises, and a twisted ankle. Her injuries didn't worry her, but what did was the world around her.

Kaya was used to white walls of polished stone, pastel sheets on canopied beds, colors so vibrant and alive that when they hung on peoples clothing they represented their own entity. But here, in this place down below her city, there were no colors, no white stone, no movement but for the occasional wind blown leaf scattering across the ground. Everything was black, brown, and dirty showing off to those who saw it that it was just the same as its foggy polluted sky. The plants were decaying, the buildings crumbling, the world not caring for itself yet still thriving because it knows no other way. A world where monsters creeped from place to place looking for their next meal. A place that Kaya knew was going to be the end of her.

As she looked around herself she could feel eyes watching her from someplace not too far away. She searched her surroundings for them, but saw none. Instead she saw a house a block away that seemed less damaged than the rest, a house she could use to hide in and heal before she searched for a way to possibly return to her soaring home.

Lifting herself up carefully to avoid further injuring her ankle, Kaya began her stumbling walk towards the house. The eyes never leaving her as she cautiously meandered her way towards the house.

She could feel the stare moving with her, slowly watching and matching her progress down the crumbling cracked road. There was no malice in the gaze that followed her, only curiosity, and Kaya hoped for it to remain that way as she stumbled over a large bump causing her to lose her footing and fall to the ground scraping her palm in the landing.

Sitting up carefully she heard a rustle in the dying vegetation to her right. Her eyes shifted over pulling her head with them when they enlarged at the sight before her. Coming out from between a couple of gorse bushes came a man, larger than any she had ever seen in her floating home. He stood tall even though his back was bent forward and to the left dragging his dislocated left arm along with him, while his right was propped up by three heavy rusted swords adorning his hip. Gashes covered any exposed part of his body, ranging in size from a small splinter to the almost foot long scrape running across his chest. His unscarred right eye scanned her before beginning a halting walk up to her, his white shirt falling away from his body as he moved to show his thin muscled form.

Kaya stared at him, unmoving, trying to force herself to get up and run. To get up and hurry along to the house before the man got to her, but no amount of screaming in her mind pushes her up off the floor. There is a crashing behind the man as another joins him. This one smaller in height and less beat up, still able to move without dragging anything with him. His hair a giant mess of brown dirty curls and his skin darker than the one stumbling before him. Kaya saw the second one lift a stick hanging at his side and aimed it not at her, like she was always lead to believe, but at the larger one of his people before him. A loud thwack emanated from the large ones skull before he fell forward onto his chest and face without bracing himself.

Kaya watched, still unable to move, as the second man stepped towards her and then the oddest thing happened. He lifted his arm and beckoned her up with his hand, pointing towards the house she was heading for before she fell.

Kaya had no idea what to do. She was always lead to believe that the people on the ground were inhuman killing machines that cared for nothing. From what she had seen so far that wasn't the case at all, but maybe she got lucky. Luck always did seem to be on her side.

She gingerly picked herself up and stepped in the direction of the house, making sure to keep an eye on the creature before her.

She studied him more as she walked behind him. He wore a low slung pair of pants with suspenders holding them up and no shirt. The stick he had procured from his side was still in his hand, a simple thing that she hoped he wasn't going to use on her when they arrived at the house.

As they stumbled up the three steps to the door of the house Kaya heard the man before her mumbling. She couldn't understand what he said, if he said anything, or if he was even talking to her. But he surprised her when he pulled a key out of one of his pockets to open the door.

_Obviously he has to have some kind of intelligence if he knows how to lock and unlock a door. But_, Kaya thought to herself as the man motioned for her to come through the door after him, _why does he have keys to a house in the first place?_ As soon as they are inside he shuts the door again and locked it, breathing a sigh that sounds a lot like he is relieved they are finally in. Taking her hand he walked her to the living area where there are a couple of chairs and a couch. They aren't in the best condition but they seem to be good enough. He eased her into a chair and then wandered off down the hall to another room.

Looking around her Kaya can see that the home she sits in was once very beautiful. Not so much now, but still more so when comparing it to what was outside. The man wandered back into the room holding a small white box with two red lines intersecting each other across one side of it. She had no idea what it was for until the man sat on the floor at her feet and took her scraped palm in his own hands to inspect it.

Kaya couldn't believe it. This man, from a species whom her entire population considered dumb and evil beyond compare was going to treat her wounds for her to the best of his abilities. She silently watched him work, not knowing what he is doing or much caring because all she can think of is how to help this man in return. How or what can she give him to repay his kindness that she never thought he would have.

When he is all finished he looked up at her, eyes an opaque white that looked like they might have been brown gazing at her the same way the gaze outside had felt, full of curiosity and wonder. Guess she does look odd in this place, all pale skin, blonde hair, and a white dress in a world full of darkness of every kind.

She lifted her unbandaged hand and pointed at herself, testing out a theory, and says, "Kaya." The man tilted his head like he was listening and she repeated her name again. "Kaya." Then she pointed to him tilting her head to show him she shall listen to him too.

The man sat up straighter, never taking his eyes off her face, as he pointed to himself and in a voice that most likely must not have been used in a very long time, he whispered, "U-Uso-Usopp." Then he pointed at Kaya and repeated, "Ka-ya."

All Kaya could do was give him her biggest and brightest smile while she thought that being down on the ground for a little while might not be so bad.

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**Tell me what you think in a pm! I LOVE constructive criticism.**


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